This is the first blog post at my new home of philobrien.com. Hello to former readers of the Personal Network blog – and welcome to new readers. I hope to cover a wider range of topics here. I am especially keen to comment on what is happening in the worlds of old, new and social media. Other issues on the agenda will be “future work”, “visual communication” – and, of course, personal networks.

I was brought up a Catholic in Liverpool. Weekly trips to church – and lots of talk about Souls and The Devil (then lapsed at 18 and never went back!). In recent times, I have read and watched to try to understand how the world got in to such a financial crisis. Part of my “education” on the subject of the financial crisis has been watching the excellent film “Inside Job”. It is a compelling (and deeply worrying) story of how deregulation and “toxic instruments” like Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) were used to bundle up sub-prime mortgages. I recommend you watch the film.

Anyway, back to Facebook. Where do they fit in with these trains of thought? Well, I think we are happily trading chunks of our social capital for the free services that Facebook (and others) offer. It’s a bit like being invited in to the Casinos at Las Vegas – those free drinks are tempting us to make poor judgements. You might look at Facebook (here you should include in your thinking Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al) and consider their financial model. They are not making money (or significant money) – but are worth billions. Why is that?

Well, my feeling is that they are taking chunks of our social capital, bundling that together in batches of 10 million users – and then setting a share price for these bundles. Their balance sheet is our aggregated social capital.

More individuals “loaning to FB” their social capital = more value

More individuals “swapping” their social capital within FB = even more value.

I could write a long article about this – but why not write your own and play this search and replace game?

In the last year, I have watched the revolutions that have taken place around the world. Many have been attributed to the social media generation using Twitter and Facebook. It’s been positive to see so many people standing firm against corrupt governments and taking back their countries. It has needed bravery and determination.

Many commentators now talk about Facebook in comparison to countries. Facebook’s own stats today tell me they have 800 million active users world-wide. In July nearly 50% of the US population where on Facebook – I suspect that is over 50% by now. So, if Facebook is the size of a country (in fact bigger than most) – what sort of revolution might take place? It would be an easy revolution – little bravery, no bloodshed. I’m intrigued to see if Facebook implodes. Will historians look back and ask “what where they thinking?”

Last week, I went to a play at the Theatre Royal in Bath called “Earthquakes in London”. It was a play about the impending doom caused by our generation not looking after the planet. It talked about a planet that would always survive – but could only cope with one billion humans, not the seven billion we are heading towards. There was a line where the actors talked about desperate Africans deciding they could take no more and walking to Europe en masse. Apocalyptic stuff! The same day, I had listened to reports that it is 75 years ago since the Jarrow March. Back in 1936 this was a march by 200 desperately poor, unemployed people from the north east of England to London. They covered 300 miles – and held a banner calling it the Jarrow Crusade.

We live in interesting (and unstable) times. We can learn from recent history that if things seem too good – they probably are. The financial crisis has shown us this – and we might think of applying this learning to how we consider our relationship with Facebook. On the bigger picture – don’t underestimate the power of large groups of people with a cause. The Jarrow Crusaders showed it 75 years ago – and the revolutions around the world this year have echoed the same. Where next? Is revolution coming on-line?

Share this:

One of my personal projects is being Chairman of a charity – the Belvoir Castle Cricket Trust. it’s a start up non-profit – which gets children involved in sport and lets youngsters explore the countryside. It’s a small venture – but we’ve gathered some excellent supporters, including some heavy-hitting, influential Trustees from the world of […]

As mentioned, I have been running up my Amazon bill doing this Personal Network research. See the picture of my Personal Network bookshelf….. I’ve created a list on my LinkedIn Profile – http://uk.linkedin.com/in/philobr. I would be interested if you have any other suggestions. List – as of this evening – is below. I need to […]

During our conversations about Climbing Fish (the start up I am working on with John Lynch) – a friend used the phrase “mild rage”. Somehow it’s stuck – and become a term we use when we describe how people feel when they are not using their genius. We’re currently using it prominently on our holding […]

I finished Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s book “Trust Agents” while on holiday. It’s inspirational – with nuggets and ideas throughout. I tried out a new method for marking up interesting points in the book – using Snopake Index Tab Arrow High Lighters – as you can see from the picture there were lots of […]

The polls have closed – and the results are in… 4,657 LinkedIn members took the time to vote on the poll – and 239 added their comments. 55% of respondents “Would REALLY miss it”, 30% said “I would for a while, but I’d get over it” and 14% said “Not one bit.” The poll was […]

As you can see from my projects and blog, I have a broad range of interests. I am always happy to meet new people and see if we can make a connection.

You can also fill in the form below and send me a message. It's good to talk.

Entrepreneurs

Would you like to connect with someone who has survived (and flourished through) similar experiences? Would you like to find someone who relates to your issues and is in touch with the changing landscape of future work and social media?

SME Proprietors

Are you considering your next steps? Are you planning an exit or trying to find finance for growth - and would like to get the experience of someone who has been through these stages?

Professionals

Are you trying to find the right person to support your clients in an advisory or Non-Executive Director role?

Like Minded Thinkers

Do you share similar passions - and have a strong desire to make a difference. Have you read something here that makes a connection?